Mac Pro 1,1s are officially screwed

[throAU]

It lacks EFI64 for arbitrary reasons. It's perfectly capable of having one. Apple just wants people to upgrade and buy new hardware.

The reason is thus:

it is 6 years old, been out of warranty/extended support for 3 years, and the EFI was never shipped back then as 64 bit.

Maybe it is technically capable of 64 bit, maybe not. Only apple really knows, and at the end of the day APPLE are the ones who are going to be dealing with customer issues trying to make ML run on antiquated hardware that is well out of support.

A decision has been made that the hardware is not supportable (on 6 year old hardware there are no guarantees that the hardware is not going to start showing defects when reinstalling the OS or installing an OS that makes use of features the original spec can't support), so they have dropped support.

There's nothing arbitrary about it - your hardware is very old and way out of support.

It sucks, but it happens to everyone's hardware eventually. Plan on turning your machines over every 3-5 years, tops, and you're not going to get caught out next time. If you can't afford a new mac pro that often, perhaps upgrading a lesser model more often will be more economically viable (and will likely give you better performance long term, anyhow)?


If you can get it working and "prove apple wrong" or whatever, go for it. Its likely not a case of being technically impossible anyway - simply that your machine is old and apple are no longer writing software/firmware for it. Try getting driver updates for 2006 spec PC hardware for Windows 8 and see how far you get.

Wasting programmer resources on supporting antiquated old hardware is only going to hold apple back from moving forward. Thus, they put a line in the sand, and anything without X as shipped is unsupported.

 

[MacVidCards]

Attn Hand Wringers, cease and desist !! 10.8 on a 1,1

I did it and you can too.

At Netkas.org you will find a couple different ways to install on a 1,1

Can we all quit crying and bemoaning the end of all things holy now?

http://www.j4mie.co.uk/blog/2012/02/18/how-to-install-mountain-lion-on-macpro11/

 

[MacinJosh]

The reason is thus:

it is 6 years old, been out of warranty/extended support for 3 years, and the EFI was never shipped back then as 64 bit.

Maybe it is technically capable of 64 bit, maybe not. Only apple really knows, and at the end of the day APPLE are the ones who are going to be dealing with customer issues trying to make ML run on antiquated hardware that is well out of support.

A decision has been made that the hardware is not supportable (on 6 year old hardware there are no guarantees that the hardware is not going to start showing defects when reinstalling the OS or installing an OS that makes use of features the original spec can't support), so they have dropped support.

There's nothing arbitrary about it - your hardware is very old and way out of support.

It sucks, but it happens to everyone's hardware eventually. Plan on turning your machines over every 3-5 years, tops, and you're not going to get caught out next time. If you can't afford a new mac pro that often, perhaps upgrading a lesser model more often will be more economically viable (and will likely give you better performance long term, anyhow)?


If you can get it working and "prove apple wrong" or whatever, go for it. Its likely not a case of being technically impossible anyway - simply that your machine is old and apple are no longer writing software/firmware for it. Try getting driver updates for 2006 spec PC hardware for Windows 8 and see how far you get.

Wasting programmer resources on supporting antiquated old hardware is only going to hold apple back from moving forward. Thus, they put a line in the sand, and anything without X as shipped is unsupported.

I could somewhat understand your argument if I had indeed *had* my Mac Pro for 5-6 years. Fact is, I've had it for less than a year. I got it for a crazy good price so I have no regrets either way. Deep down I knew that Lion was probably the last OS officially supported on it (see my previous posts).

My MacBook feels antiquated. I would not consider trying to put ML on it. It's pushing the limit with Lion as it is. I'm fine with it. It's a Late 2008 model and I'm fine with it because it's very limited in power. The MP, however, is much faster and feels it could go for ever.

I like to throw in car analogies. Think of the MP 1,1 as an old 1992 McLaren F1. It's 20-years old but looks fantastic, has low mileage, *still* one of the fastest production cars out there. The MB is like a 2002 Toyota Corolla. Well kept, but long in the tooth. Lot's of miles, not that quick. You get the point.

The point is that the MP is *capable*. And not only capable but better than some of the "supported" machines. Why allow a 2007 C2D iMac to be supported when a more powerful MP is not? That's my problem. Apple is not consistent with its restrictions. There is no maybe about it's 64-bit capability. It is just as 64bit as that iMac. Apple just chose to put in a EFI64 on the iMac and screw the MP. Simple as that.

----------

I did it and you can too.

At Netkas.org you will find a couple different ways to install on a 1,1

Can we all quit crying and bemoaning the end of all things holy now?

Thank you

 

[wesker]

My disappointment about this situation is two-fold.

First, My 2006 Mac Pro is still running great. Very responsive and smooth. It's a shame, Apple has decided not to support this hardware.

Second, Apple clearly mentions the CPU in my model as "64-bit". Yet it shipped with a EFI32? Feels a bit like false advertising.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060812162234/http://www.apple.com/macpro/?

 

[Cindori]

There is a guide now to install Mountain Lion on Mac Pro 1,1 / 2,1 :

http://www.groths.org/?p=679

 

[MacVidCards]

Are you guys gonna keep fighting or go have a look at ways to install it?

2 different people have come up with 2 different ways, neither of which is very complicated.

Pretty clever guy:

http://www.j4mie.co.uk/blog/2012/02/18/how-to-install-mountain-lion-on-macpro11/

 

[jeanlain]

There is a guide now to install Mountain Lion on Mac Pro 1,1 / 2,1 :

http://www.groths.org/?p=679

Cool. But I don't expect this workaround to last very long, since it relies on ML still supporting a 32-bit kernel. Apple may very well compile a 64-bit only kernel before release (like they did for the Finder in Lion).

But Chameleon is another option.

 

[MacinJosh]

Cool. But I don't expect this workaround to last very long, since it relies on ML still supporting a 32-bit kernel. Apple may very well compile a 64-bit only kernel before release (like they did for the Finder in Lion).

But Chameleon is another option.

I'm not exactly certain that's it's got anything to do with EFI64. All the sites list the Late 2008 Unibody MacBook that I have as a supported machine. It certainly does *not* have EFI64.

 

[Cindori]

I'm not exactly certain that's it's got anything to do with EFI64. All the sites list the Late 2008 Unibody MacBook that I have as a supported machine. It certainly does *not* have EFI64.

It does, at least according to this:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-2.0-aluminum-13-late-2008-unibody-specs.html


"EFI Architecture: 64-Bit"

You can try boot 64bit kernel by holding 6 and 4 keys on keyboard while booting. Then check here to confirm:

 

[MacinJosh]

It does, at least according to this:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-2.0-aluminum-13-late-2008-unibody-specs.html


"EFI Architecture: 64-Bit"

You can try boot 64bit kernel by holding 6 and 4 keys on keyboard while booting. Then check here to confirm:

Image

Can't boot 64bit kernel. (not true, see below) Right, but according to TUAW:

Mountain Lion will only run on the following Macs:

iMac (mid 2007 or later)
MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, 2.4/2.2 GHz), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
Xserve (Early 2009)

This means the following Macs which are supported under OS X Lion will not be able to run Mountain Lion (model identifiers in parentheses):

Late 2006 iMacs (iMac5,1, iMac5,2, iMac6,1)
All plastic MacBooks that pre-date the aluminum unibody redesign (MacBook2,1, MacBook3,1, MacBook4,1)
MacBook Pros released prior to June 2007 (MacBookPro2,1, MacBookPro2,2)
The original MacBook Air (MacBookAir1,1)
The Mid-2007 Mac mini (Macmini2,1)
The original Mac Pro and its 8-core 2007 refresh (MacPro1,1, MacPro2,1)
Late 2006 and Early 2008 Xserves (Xserve1,1, Xserve2,1)

Update: It slipped my mind that there were two pre-unibody plastic MacBooks introduced between the aluminum MacBook and the plastic unibody redesign, both of them with the model identifier MacBook5,2. Those MacBooks, which still feature the legacy pre-unibody case design and were manufactured in early- to mid-2009, are supported in Mountain Lion because they feature an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics card instead of the integrated Intel GPUs in their predecessors.

----------

WTF. I did "ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi" in terminal and all of a sudden it's EFI64.

I swear that a year ago I was pissing mad for the same reason as my MP for not being EFI64. They must've updated it.

See this for details: http://netkas.org/?p=189

Disregard previous post...

 

[goMac]

I could somewhat understand your argument if I had indeed *had* my Mac Pro for 5-6 years. Fact is, I've had it for less than a year. I got it for a crazy good price so I have no regrets either way. Deep down I knew that Lion was probably the last OS officially supported on it (see my previous posts).\

Since when does you getting your Mac Pro only a year ago not make it a 5-6 year old computer?

If I go out and buy a Mac SE today, should I demand Apple support OS X on it because to me the machine is only a day old?

 

[MacinJosh]

Since when does you getting your Mac Pro only a year ago not make it a 5-6 year old computer?

If I go out and buy a Mac SE today, should I demand Apple support OS X on it because to me the machine is only a day old?

Huh? I never said it wasn't 5-6 years old.

The reason you wouldn't demand Apple to allow OS X on an Mac SE is because it isn't possible for it to run on it. Simple, right? Well, the MP 1,1 *can* run ML without problems as has been already shown here so that's why I can bicker at Apple for not getting off their arses and quickly writing a EFI64 for the MP 1,1. Greed is the only thing holding them back. Apple wants to sell newer computers.

Like MacVidCards already said, let's just drop it. There is a solution already so all this bickering is moot.

 

[hugodrax]

I am not too concerned, back in 06 The Mac pro was the only game in town if you wanted 4 cpus, 16GB of ram etc..

But I got more than my expected use out of it. I am looking to upgrade to a Ivy Bridge based Mac Mini server edition.

It will take up a huge amount of less space on the desk, it will be 4 cpus (8HT), 16GB of ram is cheap, 2x 7200 500GB drives, Intel HD4000 graphics. And a fraction of the heat/power consumed. And it will blow out the 06 in terms of performance as well. And you get Thunderbolt as well.

Will probably get rid of my old workhorse in mid 2013. I squeezed every penny out of it.

Amazing how technology moves forward, and now you can get a powerful computer that you can hold in the palm of your hand

 

[goMac]

The reason you wouldn't demand Apple to allow OS X on an Mac SE is because it isn't possible for it to run on it. Simple, right? Well, the MP 1,1 *can* run ML without problems as has been already shown here so that's why I can bicker at Apple for not getting off their arses and quickly writing a EFI64 for the MP 1,1. Greed is the only thing holding them back. Apple wants to sell newer computers.

With some changes that are extremely unlikely to work in future versions, yes.

Mountain Lion could run on an SE if they just compiled a 68k version. Easy right? Why doesn't Apple do that?

Or what about PCs. Mountain Lion could run on PCs with some minor changes that people here have linked to. The only thing holding Apple back is their greed.

We could play the "It could run on X if only they put in the work" game all day. The fact is they don't want to maintain the huge set of 32 bit drivers required for K32 anymore, because those machines are old.

 

[MacinJosh]

We could play the "It could run on X if only they put in the work" game all day. The fact is they don't want to maintain the huge set of 32 bit drivers required for K32 anymore, because those machines are old.

Ye, so why don't they write the friggin EFI64 for it then like they've done for so many others?

 

[goMac]

Ye, so why don't they write the friggin EFI64 for it then like they've done for so many others?

Because the machine is old.

It's not like the Mac Pro is unique here. There are probably a half dozen other Macs with EFI32.

Updating them all to EFI64 means finding engineers familiar with the machines, hoping the flash has enough room for an EFI64 firmware (pro tip: it probably doesn't), recoding all the hacks in the EFI32 Mac Pro firmware like the X1900 hack, QA testing, and then releasing to the few dozen people who probably actually care. Oh, and then dealing with a bunch of out of warranty Mac Pro customers demanding in warranty service if something goes wrong with the firmware update.

In other words, it's not worth the effort.

I don't think Apple has ever updated an EFI32 machine to EFI64.

 

[macpro2000]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Not worth getting all riled up...the workaround works just peachy. I actually can tell performance improvements when using my Mac Pro 2.66 Octo. #

 

[Schismz]

I just skimmed this whole endless thread. Perhaps I'm missing some points, or don't understand all the nuances of the conversation, but mostly I'm at: it's a really old machine. If you're still using it for production work, tied to some specific programs, then it's not like it will stop working. If not, well, you've probably gotten your money's worth out of a machine that's 6 years old.

Yes I know, Mac Pros are different and live in a special universe (which is true, where else could I buy the most powerful/expensive computer that Apple makes, and almost 2 years later, the exact same 12-core is STILL the most powerful and expensive computer that Apple makes).

Maybe I'm just dense, but I also don't really feel the overwhelming histrionic, near-hysterical response that a lot of people seem to be getting from Lion and Mountain Lion. I mean, it's a computer, not a religion. Things evolve and change. Yes there is more eye candy and spinny flying things, yes ZFS would be nice, oh say, about 3 years+ ago, instead of ... OHMYGOD, the iPad/iPhone experience on my Mac Pro!!!! But... I'm really happy with how my stock is doing, so, oh well, I'll sulk all the way to the bank, thanks APPL! Has any "pro" functionality actually gone away/been removed? (Yes I know there are some issues, they've annoyed me personally since I run multiple RAIDs on Lion, but if you're a "pro" then you should be able to skip all the pretty GUI crap and just use *nix/Mach from a shell right? It all works just fine at the foundation level, it's the eye candy and point and clicky that's still f--ked up.)

Is Linux/BSD, or Windows an actual tenable alternative for you? If yes, you may want to investigate and pursue switching to some other OS, because I don't see anything that changes the course Apple is on, which is good, I'm looking forward to AAPL shares @ $600+

Anyhoo, here is one -- of doubtless MANY forthcoming -- workarounds:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14341245/

 

[MacVidCards]

10.8 on a 1,1 easy as PIE

Easiest hack ever.

2 little text fields in a file and BINGO it works.

Kudos to shinratdr at Netkas.

Apparently, when he isn't helping Rats with their shin injuries he is fluent in "KISS"

If you have another Mac that is already on the ML list, this is by far the easiest way to do this.

I also managed to prove that everyone who thinks an SSD is a waste of money need to rethink, or at least try a comparison.

My 10.7.3 install on the 1,1 is an SSD while I put this 10.8 install on an old 5400 RPM drive I yanked from a PS3. The 10.8 is beach ball city, even when I boot it onto the 5,1. The 10.7.3 SSD makes the whole machine feel about 1 Ghz faster.

Double click on an icon and WAIT on the 5400 or watch it blast onto the desktop on the SSD. I frequently double open things on the 5400 because I don't think it "took" the first time. An SSD is like putting a turbo on your car.

10.8 on a 1,1 is easy and fun. Can't believe the 6 pages of wynching when all that was needed was some ingenuity and drive.

Did I mention that a 6950 from AMD works OOTB? no hacks, kexts, or other fiddle faddling. I was even able to get it to run 4 displays. Try that with a 5870.

 

[pprior]

Heck I'm still running Snow Lepoard on my mac pro 3.1 - have seen no reason to join the increasingly "iphonization" of an otherwise good OS. You don't HAVE to upgrade to the latest OS you know....

 

[karsten]

for everyone jumping on 1,1 users to upgrade, i'll gladly send along my paypal for a $2000 donation to do so. thanks

 

[MacVidCards]

10.8 allows 6950/70 to work OOTB, trumps the 5870

Among other reasons to like the new OS, you can for the first time run an ATI card that leaves the $450 5870 in the weeds.

On my machine, the 6950 does 10% better in both GLView and Cinebench 11.5.

When the 7970 drivers get finished we'll really have something.

 

[derbothaus]

On my machine, the 6950 does 10% better in both GLView and Cinebench 11.5.

When the 7970 drivers get finished we'll really have something.

Oh boy, 10% faster in OpenGL, 5% faster in DX11, 5% slower in DX10, 10% slower in DX9 (most games). The 69xx series is balls. Waiting for 7950/70 as you pointed out. But slowly making inroads.

 

[macpro2000]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I am just thrilled that someone has already come up with a simple and ingenious fix for us.

 

[silverboy31]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I am just thrilled that someone has already come up with a simple and ingenious fix for us.

Worked for me !! easy work around except NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256 MB graphics not supported , running ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB graphics